Calvinism

John Calvin was born in Noyon, France, in 1509, and originally trained as a lawyer before turning to theology. 

In 1536 he published The Institutes of the Christian Religion, his personal testament of faith written to put an end to the divisions within the expanding Protestant movement. This introduced Calvin's doctrine of predestination, under which God predestines certain souls (the elect) through the sacrifice of Jesus to salvation, and the others whose fate is damnation. He emphasised the utter sinfulness of mankind that cannot be saved unless they are one of the elect, one of the chosen ones to be saved. 

The five points of Calvinism are summarised by the acronym TULIP: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints. These were formally codified at the Synod of Dort (Netherlands, 1618–19). 

Calvin believed there are three tests that constitute a good yardstick by which to judge who is God's chosen, the elect and therefore saved. Firstly participation in baptism and the Lord's Supper, secondly, a public declaration of one's faith and lastly a righteous moral life. 

Calvin settled in Geneva, which became known as the "Protestant Rome" under his influence. In 1541 he established the Genevan Consistory — a body of pastors and elders — to oversee church discipline and moral life in the city, making it a model of Reformed governance for the wider Reformation. 

Calvinism was adopted in Scotland, parts of Switzerland, and the Netherlands; by the Puritans in England and New England, USA; and by the subsequent Congregational and Presbyterian churches in the USA. 

1661 portrait of the interior of the Oude Kerk, a Reformed (Calvinist) church in Amsterdam

French Calvinists were known as Huguenots. In the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of August 24, 1572, thousands of Huguenots were killed in Paris and across France in a wave of Catholic mob violence.

Sociologist Max Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–5), argued that Calvinist theology — particularly the doctrine of predestination — helped create the conditions for the rise of modern capitalism, as believers sought outward signs of being among the elect through hard work and thrift. 

Although Calvinism is rarely accepted today in its strictest interpretation, the 20th century has seen a neo-Calvinist revival through the work of Karl Barth. 

 Source Encyclopedia of Trivia © RM 2013. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.

John Calvin

John Calvin (1509-1564) was born Place Aristide, Briand, Noyon, Picardie, France (60 miles NE of Paris.)

His father, Gerard, was an attorney and Procurator Fiscal (a church administrator) of the Noyon District and Secretary of the diocese.

Calvin's mother, Jeanne le Franc, was the daughter of an innkeeper from Cambrai. She died a few years after John's birth from an unknown cause.

John was particularly precocious; by age 12, he was employed by the bishop as a clerk and received the tonsure, cutting his hair to symbolise his dedication to the Church.

Initially, he received formal instruction for the priesthood at the Collège de la Marche and the Collège de Montaigue, branches of the University of Paris. However, Calvin was encouraged by his father to study law at the University of Orléans instead of theology, because Gérard believed his son would earn more money as a lawyer than as a priest.

After a few years of quiet study, Calvin entered the University of Bourges in 1529 where he continued his studies. Along with several friends he grew to appreciate the humanistic and reforming movements, and during his 18-month stay in Bourges, Calvin learned Greek, a necessity for studying the New Testament. By 1532, he was a Doctor of Law.

Portrait of Young John Calvin from the collection of the Library of Geneva.

By the early 1530s, the youthful Calvin had grown unsettled in his religious experiences and turned from studying law to the priesthood. He was converted from Catholicism and underwent a personal religious experience adopting a simpler form of Christianity after hearing a homily on the sovereignty of the Scriptures by the Rector of the Sorbonne, Nicholas Cop.

His first published work was an edition of the Roman philosopher Seneca's De clementia, accompanied by a thorough commentary.

Published in 1536, the Institutes of the Christian Religion served as Calvin’s personal testament of faith, written to reconcile the divisions within the rapidly expanding Protestant movement. In it, he expounded his theological belief that God in his divine wisdom had already chosen the elect, those whose place in eternity with their father and those who would be damned to everlasting damnation and hellfire. The book thrust him into the forefront of Protestantism as a thinker and spokesman.

The Protestant Reformation reached the Swiss city of Geneva in the 1530s. John Calvin arrived in the city in July 1536.

Calvin's association with Geneva was not part of his plans. He visited the city only because of a detour to avoid the hostilities of a war raging between the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and the King of France, Francis I. Calvin had intended to remain in Geneva a single night before resuming his travel to Strasbourg.

Calvin demanded that every Geneva citizen swear to the Confession of Faith on pain of banishment. The Geneva Council rejected this reform and banned the would-be-bannee and his followers from the city on May 26, 1538. Calvin lived in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years, returning to Geneva on September 13, 1541.

Calvim married Idelette de Bure, a widow in August 1540. They had one child who died in infancy. Idelette died in 1549 when he was 40 years old, and he called her "my life's best companion."  Calvin did not remarry.

In 1541 Calvin was appointed pastor of Geneva's Cathedral of St Pierre with a decent salary, a fine house and 250 gallons of wine a year.

Calvin preached at St. Pierre Cathedral, the main church in Geneva.

On returning to Geneva he began his first sermon with the chapter and verse of the Bible where he had left three years earlier.

Calvin was influential in establishing a rigorous theocracy ( a government by Priests) in Geneva. His religious and political authority was gradually reinforced by the arrival of a large number of French refugees.

Calvin felt the most important part of the church service was the sermon when the congregation would be made to think very seriously about their faith. "I am given to understand that your very full sermons are giving some ground for complaint. I beg you earnestly to restrict yourself, enforcing, if necessary, rather than offer Satan any handle which he will be able to seize."

The widespread notion that Calvin was an enemy of the arts, and limited the role of music in church for that reason, is simply nonsense. When Calvin came to Geneva, no music could be heard in the churches at all, and he was the one who actually reintroduced it in the form of singing in unison rather than in harmony as it was only logical to begin again without complicated harmonies.

A typical day involved writing letters, a lecture, a sermon, and attending to visitors. Sometimes he was needed for settilng disputes. Towards the end Calvin said to his friends who were worried about his daily regimen of work, "What! Would you have the Lord find me idle when He comes?"

John Calvin

During the course of his ministry in Geneva, which lasted nearly 25 years, Calvin lectured to theological students and preached an average of five sermons a week. This was in addition to writing a commentary on nearly every book of the Bible as well as numerous treatises on theological topics. His correspondence fills eleven volumes.

Calvin would spend his private moments on Lake Geneva and read scripture while drinking red wine.

Throughout his life Calvin's health was never robust. He suffered from stomach trouble, chronic migraines, chronic asthma, lung haemorrhages, bouts of malaria, ulcerated piles, gout, kidney stones and insomnia.  By the 1560s he had reached the stage where he was unable to walk, but insisted on being carried to the pulpit to preach.

In 1559 Calvin originated the Geneva Academy as a centre of instruction for the best students making it the centre of theological studies in the French language.

Following several years of illness, John Calvin died on May 27, 1564. He gave strict instructions that he be buried in the common cemetery with no tombstone. Calvin wished to give no encouragement to those who might make it a Protestant shrine. His reputed tomb is at Plais Palais Cemetery, Geneva.

The last moments of Calvin (Barcelona: Montaner y Simón, 1880–1883)

Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, a comic character created by Bill Watterson, was named after John Calvin. It is thought that this reflects the young male character's belief in predestination (as justification for his behaviour), while his stuffed tiger Hobbes shares Thomas Hobbes's dim view of human nature.

Calvin systematised the reformed tradition in Protestantism. He provided a pattern for churches in Holland, Scotland and much of Germany. His teachings today are the basis of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches.

Source ChristianHistory.net

Calorie

The calorie was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, and entered French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. The word comes from Latin calor meaning "heat".

Values are measured experimentally with a bomb calorimeter.

In more primitive times most individuals burned up the calories gained from the food they consumed through the rigors of their daily activities. This is no longer true for most people, particularly those living in industrialized nations.

Medieval peasants ate twice as many calories as we do today. 

Americans consume 3,800 calories on average daily. The recommended daily intake is 2,000 calories.

Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound.

Walking briskly for one mile in 15 minutes burns approximately the same amount of calories as does jogging an equal distance in 8.5 minutes.

Over 90% of the calories you burn are used to maintain your body temperature. A good way to lose weight is, therefore, to expose your body to the cold.

At its height, Elvis Presley's daily food intake was an estimated 94,000 calories, nearly twice that of an Asian elephant.

Eating breakfast will help you burn from 5-20% more calories throughout the day.

According to Yahoo! Shine, the average American eats between 3,000 to 5,000 calories at their Thanksgiving dinner. It turns out the item that does the most damage to your waistline is pecan pie. Each piece is said to be worth 503 calories.

Over 20% of all calories collectively consumed by humanity are from a single food: rice.

There are about 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat, so you would have to burn about 500 per gym session for a week to lose it.

Whale blubber contains more calories per pound than any other food found in nature.

Standing burns about 50 more calories an hour than sitting.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

Doing mental exercises, such as crosswords, sudokus and puzzles, is claimed to burn as many as 90 calories per hour.

Each time you laugh you burn up, on average, 3.5 calories.

Running a mile only burns 105 net calories.

You burn about 0.17 calories for every step you climb, so you burn roughly a calorie and a half for every 10 upward steps.

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

Every time you lick a USPS stamp, you ingest about 10% of a calorie. British stamps, on the other hand, contain about 5.9 calories.

It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

Ice-cold water is the only negative calorie beverage, since your body needs to spend energy to heat it up. Drinking one such glass a day, it would take a person over a year to lose a single pound of weight.

Two handfuls of walnuts contain 650 calories. 

A whole melon contains around 600 calories, 100 more than a Big Mac.

There's a one-calorie difference between a bowl of Frosties and a bowl of Special K. (The extra calorie is in Special K).

 
According to a Chinese newspaper article, kissing burns off three calories per smooch.

Maria Callas

Maria Callas was born Sophia Cecelia Kalos at Flower Hospital (now the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center), at 1249 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, on December 2, 1923 to Greek parents. Blessed with a soprano voice of fine range and a gift for dramatic expression, Callas was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century.

In the early years of her career, Callas was a heavy and full-figured woman; in her own words, "Heavy—one can say—yes I was; but I'm also a tall woman, 5' 8½" and I used to weigh no more than 200 pounds [91 kilograms]." During 1953 and early 1954, she lost almost 80 pounds (36 kg), by eating a sensible low-calorie diet of mainly salads and chicken.

She made her debut in Verona, Italy, in 1947 and at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1956.

Maria Callas as Violetta in La traviata, 1958

When Maria Callas made her debut as Tosca in 1964, her stage fright was so bad that director Franco Zeffirelli had to push her on stage.

In 1957, after a performance in Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Maria was introduced to Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis at a party given in her honor by Elsa Maxwell. She eventually left her husband for him. Onassis would break off their relationship to marry Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Callas devastated.

She waged an infamous feud with her mother Evangelia. Callas felt compelled to inform the press in 1971: "I know my mother wrote a book about me, but I have never read it."

Maria Callas spent her last years living largely in isolation in Paris and died aged 53 on September 16, 1977, of a heart attack. She was cremated at the Père Lachaise Cemetery and her ashes were placed in the columbarium there. After being stolen and later recovered, in the spring of 1979 they were scattered over the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Greece, according to her wish.

Anna Calvi's song "Sing To Me" is a homage to Maria Callas, whose music the singer discovered as a child through her Italian father's record collection.

Caligula

Caligula was born in Antium (modern day Anzio) on August 31, 12AD. His father, Germanicus Caesar (15BC-19AD), was the stepson and great nephew of Tiberius a Roman general. His mother, Agrippina was a granddaughter of Caesar Augustus and Scribonia. She was considered a model of the perfect Roman woman.

His real name was Gaius Caesar. As a baby, Gaius traveled with his parents among the legions of Rome and when he was two or three years of age,  he became the mascot of his father's army in Germany. The soldiers were amused whenever Agrippina would put a miniature soldier costume on young Gaius, and he was soon given his nickname "Caligula" (or Caligulae), meaning "Little Soldier('s boots)" in Latin, after the small boots he wore as part of his costume.

He hated being called Caligula,, but he also hated the name "Gaius". ("Caligula" is formed from the Latin word "caliga", meaning soldier's boot, and the suffix "ula" indicating inferiority.)

In AD 14, when news of Augustus' death made its way across the Empire, the soldiers of Germanicus's camp almost started a mutiny against Tiberius because they wanted Germanicus as Emperor. Germanicus sent Agrippina and Caligula away from the mess that was soon to brew and tried to calm his men down. The superstitious men became horrified at the prospect of losing their favorite mascot. They promised to amend their ways and so Caligula was returned.

In 33AD his mother Agrippina, who had been banished to island of Pandatena by Emperor Tiberius, committed suicide by starving herself after the loss of two sons.

Caligula was tall with a massive, hairy body, bald head, thin legs and neck. Historian Suetonius said he was "horribly pale", with "the face of an old man", a "deformed" head, "enormous feet" and a neck "covered in bristles".

Emperor Caligula, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. By Louis le Grand - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, $3

Caligula traveled with his wife and parents among the legions of Rome and was widely popular. On March 18, 37AD, the senate disinherited his cousin Gernellus and appointed Caligula as emperor.

On becoming Emperor, Caligula performed a spectacular stunt. He ordered a temporary floating bridge to be built using ships as pontoons, stretching for over two miles from the resort of Baiae to the neighbouring port of Puteoli. He then proceeded to ride his horse across, wearing the breastplate of Alexander the Great. This act was in defiance of an astrologer's prediction that he had "no more chance of becoming Emperor than of riding a horse across the Gulf of Baiae".

Caligula went prematurely bald and was so sensitive about his lack of hair that he made it a capital crime for anyone to look down from a high place as he passed by.

Caligula had his mind weakened by a serious illness, allegedly caused by his depraved lifestyle. The illness was possibly encephalitis combined with the toxic effect of lead poisoning on his nervous system.

He decided that he was the reincarnation of Jupiter, so Caligula grew a long tangled beard, like the King of the Gods.

Because he thought he was the reincarnation of Jupiter, Caligula threw jagged pieces of iron at unfortunate passers by. (He was unable to hurl thunderbolts like his predecessor.)

In his first year as emperor, Caligula either banished or murdered most of his rivals. After that, he had rivals sawn in half, fed criminals to cattle and murdered people for trivial reasons.

A marble bust of Caligula restored to its original colours

Caligula's favorite horse, Incitatus, was housed in a marble stall and had a gold drinking goblet, furniture and slaves. Caligula even threw parties at which Incitatus was host.  Later on he appointed his horse as a Roman consul.

Often compared to a goat, Caligula made it a capital crime to mention goats in his presence.

He loved gladiatorial games. Caligula once entered the arena as a gladiator and whilst his opponents had wooden swords, he had a real one. He also staged a large scale battle pitting 400 bears against large dogs and gladiators and liked to watch fights between cripples or dwarfs.

An early alchemist, Caligula instituted experiments for producing gold from orpiment (a sullfide of arsenic.)

When he heard of the imageless worship of the Temple of Jerusalem, Caligula decided to set up his own life-sized statue in the Holy Place. His advisors besought him not to so fearing a bloody civil war but Caligula would not budge. Fortunately he died before he could carry out his plan of desecration.

Caligula once declared war on the sea and ordered his troops of highly trained soldiers to collect seashells as trophies. This is seen as a sign of his madness, but it is also said that Caligula was making a political statement or a satire against the idea of military conquest, as it was impossible to defeat the sea, and the shells were a symbol of the futility of war. 

Caligula was so upset by the death of his sister Drusila that he imposed a year of mourning. During this time everyone in the empire was forbidden to dine with his family laugh, or take a bath. The penalty for transgression was death.

He had a boat on Lake Nemi, which he used for every sensual pleasure. Inside were baths, dining rooms, vines and fruit-bearing trees.

Caligula was assassinated on January 24, 41AD when one of his guards ran a sword through his midriff while another murdered his wife and dashed out the brains of his baby daughter against a wall.

Lawrence Alma Tadema 1871

As Caligula was being transported to his burial ground in his hearse he was succeeded by his Uncle Claudius.

Source  Book of Lists

California

Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego was the first site visited by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. (Alta California had an area comprising the modern state of California and other states to the east.)

Explorer Francis Drake landed in 1579 in a region of present-day California, naming it New Albion and claiming it for England. Technically, this means the West Coast was "New England" before the East as John Smith didn't use the name to describe Massachusetts until 1616.

The name "California" comes from a 16th century romance novel about a mythical island populated solely by black women warriors armed with gold weapons, ruled by a Queen named Calafia.

In May 1769, Gaspar de Portolà established the Fort Presidio of San Diego on a hill near the San Diego River. It was the first settlement by Europeans in what is now the state of California.

The first Alta California mission and presidio were established by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra on July 16, 1769.

Mission San Diego de Alcalá. By Bernard Gagnon - Own work,

California's first mission would become the city of San Diego. The mission and the surrounding area were named for the Catholic Didacus of Alcalá, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego.

Between 1530 and 1750, a large portion of the world wholeheartedly believed that California was, in fact, a massive island. Popular opinion slowly shifted to the area being a Peninsula, but many maps continued to show it as an island to the mid-1700s.

Mission Santa Clara de Asís, a Spanish mission that formed the basis of both the city of Santa Clara, California and Santa Clara University, was established on January 12, 1777.  It was named for Saint Clare of Assisi, the foundress of the order of the Poor Clares and was the first California mission to be named in honor of a woman.

Mission Santa Clara de Asís. By JaGa - 

San Jose was founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe by José Joaquín Moraga on November 29, 1777. It was the first civilian settlement or pueblo founded in Alta California.

On July 9, 1846 an American naval captain occupied the settlement of Yerba Buena, The following January the town was renamed San Francisco.

In 1846 Californian settlers rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterwards, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,

The California Republic was short lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. When Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States, Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the US forces. After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California.

Campo de Cahuenga, scene of the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga

California was admitted as the thirty-first US state on September 9, 1850.

While establishing a sawmill for John Sutter, on January 24, 1848 James W. Marshall discovered gold and touched off the California gold rush.

During the California gold rush, miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing.

In 1850, California law made it legal for towns to pay bounties for Indian scalps. Shasta City offered $5 for every Indian head brought to city hall, expenses reimbursed by the state treasury. There were 150,000 Native Americans in California before the 49ers, by 1870 less than 30,000.

The Great California flood of 1862 submerged Sacramento under ten feet of water and turned California's Central Valley into a vast inland sea spanning 300 miles long, 20 miles wide and 30 feet deep. It killed thousands, bankrupted the state and historically happens every 200 years.

California's state flag has a Brown Bear. The last Brown Bear in California was shot in 1922.

California is the 5th largest economy in the world behind USA, China, Japan and Germany. 

The US state that produces the most dairy is California, not Wisconsin.

California is home to 91 of the 100 most expensive zip codes in America.

California grows over 95 percent of all olives produced in the United States, with table olive bearing acreage currently estimated at approximately 12,000 acres.

California is the world's fifth largest supplier of food.

If all the strawberries produced in California annually were put side by side, they would wrap around the Earth fifteen times

Richard Nixon left instructions for "California, here I come" to be the last piece of music played (slowly and softly) were he to die in office.

The oldest living thing in existence is not a giant redwood, but a bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California, dated to be aged 4600 years old.

California holds 12% of the US population and produces 6.9% of the country's total emissions.

The highest point (The peak of Mount Whitney at 14,494 feet / 4,418 meters) and lowest point (The Badwater Basin area of Death Valley at -282 feet / -86 meters) in the Contiguous United States are both in California, both in the same county in California, and only 88 miles (142 kms) apart.

Reno, Nevada is actually west of Los Angeles, California.

The snowiest city in the USA is: Blue Canyon, California.

Nearly half of the United States' unsheltered population — those who sleep on the streets, in cars, in tents or in other places not intended for human habitation — resides in California.

The music for California's state anthem, "I Love You California," was written by A.F. Frankenstein.

Here's a list of songs about California.

Sources The New York Times, Greatfacts.com

Calendar

The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begun on August 11, 3114 BC.

All Mesoamerican cultures used a 260-day ritual calendar that had no confirmed correlation to astronomical or agricultural cycles. These were used in combination with a separate 365-day calendar to create a 52-year cycle known as a calendar round.

Image of an ancient Mexican calendar

The Ancient Egyptians used 12 months of exactly 30 days, with 5 days of festivities at the end to add up to 365. However, this calendar didn't include a leap day every four years like we have now, so over time it drifted out of sync with the solar year. Despite that, it was remarkably accurate for its time and used for administrative and religious purposes.

The Babylonians created the 7 day week because there are 7 celestial bodies visible to the naked eye (The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn).

The ancient Greek calendar was based on the Olympiad, the four-year period between the Olympic games.

The original ancient Roman calendar began in March and ended in December and totaled 304 days. January and February were not given names. Around 713 BC, the semi-mythical successor of Romulus, King Numa Pompilius, is supposed to have added the months of January and February, allowing the calendar to equal a standard lunar year (354 days).

46 BC was the longest year in human history at 455 days. The year marked the change from the pre-Julian Roman calendar to the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar added two extra leap months to re calibrate the calendar in preparation for his calendar reform, which went into effect in 45 BC

When the Julian calendar took effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, it established January 1 as the new date of the new year.

Ukrainian monk, Dionysius Exiguus, created the modern day Christian calendar. His calendar originated from Christ's birth which he assumed was 48 years after the death of Caesar. He made a mistake in his calculations, and it is now believed the birth of Christ was around 4BC. 

The Sun Stone, or Aztec calendar stone, was carved some time early in the sixteenth century. Shortly after the Spanish conquest, the monolithic sculpture was buried in the main square of Mexico City. It was rediscovered on December 17, 1790 during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral.

Aztec Sun Stone, at National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, Mexico. By Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata

The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. It was implemented in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain on October 4, 1582, the day being followed directly by October 15.

Two centuries later, the Gregorian calendar was adopted by Great Britain and the English colonies on September 14, 1752, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2nd).

March was the first month of the year until the Gregorian calendar began to be used. This meant that March 25th was the official New Year's Day in the UK and US until they switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

The Gregorian calendar isn't perfect—its dates become one day off from Earth's seasons every 3,216 years.

According to tradition, the Advent calendar was created in the 19th century by a Munich housewife who tired of having to answer endlessly when Christmas would come. The first commercial calendars were printed in Germany in 1851.

In 1908 the Russian team turned up 12 days late to the London Olympics because they were still using the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.